Will we ever see a "Red Wedding" type of scene? *Song of Ice and Fire spoilers?*

This is more of a general conversation type post!

Does anyone think Butcher would ever kill off a ton of characters in one fell swoop like George R R Martin's Red Wedding scene? Butcher hasn't exactly been gun shy about killing characters; and as we saw in Cold Days he certainly is okay with writing in very surprising deaths. But he hasn't really killed off any of Harry's friends, or otherwise any main characters (as far as I remember).

Personally, I don't think so. The red wedding fits into the theme and feel of the world of Song of Ice and Fire, but a mass butchering event like that wouldn't feel at home in the Dresdenverse. I won't be at all surprised if some of the more central protagonists meet their end somewhere along the line (and end may not necessarily mean death), but I feel like it will be something that, in retrospect, will be very interwoven with the whole of the plot rather than the "surprise! more viscous brutality and murder that you didn't quite see coming!" that is central to Song of Ice and Fire.

They bombed a city with nerve gas in (I think) Dead Beat? I remember them telling Harry that the Council had been attacked then they'd had to retreat to a Safe House in the congo which was then nerve gassed.

I really don't want him to kill off the main characters in any manner similar to the red wedding. That was insane and what happened after that was even crazier so i sincerely hope that that never enters his thoughts.

And the stories are different, Dresden is about the one guy and the various other characters he meets along the way. With ASOIAF on the other hand you get the feeling the individuals don't matter too much the world is heading toward some end only GRRM can see with or without them.

You need to remember that Martin is trying to be deliberately amoral in ASOIAF. The point he has tried to get across is that his world isn't one of good vs. evil, and there's no reason to assume that noble good will prevail. We see every character, even the "good" ones, has a flaw, a darker blemish which compromises this concept. The few people in his books who've managed to be actively and genuinely "good", like Ned Stark, are quickly wiped out. The point here is that the world isn't run by good or evil, it's run by greed and selfishness: people don't act out of morals, they act in their own self-interest.

Harry Dresden's universe isn't the same. There's a distinct presence of Good and Evil; we've seen agents of both of them (Demons and angels, as well as the knights of the cross and the Denarians). Though there several neutral parties in between, there is an established belief in the books that characters can benefit from an effort to be noble and good, even when they aren't the best at it.

I could see Harry being moved by the slaughter of a large number of his friends, but Harry lives in a state of sacrifice every day now. He's given up so much of his life already in the pursuit of his duty. Honestly, he doesn't have many friends to begin with at this point. I could see maybe one close friend dying to move him, but not a large-scale event like the Red Wedding. That was a tool Martin used to shock the readers and remind them that Robb Stark and his army (rapidly becoming a "good" faction) wasn't going to get ahead just by being good. His world is cold and uncaring. Butcher's isn't.

I don't think the Dresden Files has the cast that a Song of Fire and Ice does. There are many "main characters" in Martin's series, and none of them are truly main characters, but rather fortunate (as fortunate as you can be to exist in Martin's universe) that happen to live long enough to give us more of the story. In addition, even if any of them dies, the story can easily continue with another character. On the other hand, Dresden Files is limited to Harry Dresden and those that he is close with or gets involved with.

As of Cold Days, we have only really seen side characters died off. A few examples that I can list on the top of my head are: Shiro (one book), Kirby (minor roles in a couple books), and Morgan (one of the bigger sides, but only really persists in his unfortunate final book).

You're forgetting Changes, Changes, and Cold Days. Don't discount the people who've undergone extreme character changes, either, like Small Favor, Turn Coat, or Cold Days. While most of those aren't as jaw-droppingly extreme as the Red Wedding, they're still earth-shaking changes in the series.

Not with main characters, but with minor characters sure. Hell he's killed hundreds of beings through war, assassination, and one on one fights. He's certainly not above abruptly murdering someone who's been around for awhile Cold Days or killing off good guys in terrible manners White Night so I can see him having a gathering of important minor characters who are Strong allies of Dresden and slaughtering many of them without killing Dresden's main entourage. An example would be Cold Days

One thing that needs to be remembered is for this to happen you would need to find a way to get all these people into one place. I doubt anyone would voluntarily meet up in a place all cozied up together without some form of hospitality/protection.

That means if it did happen someone would need to violate the Accords big time and that would probably turn the other Signatories on them. There isn't a single group that would last more than five minutes against the combined might of the rest.

Since it's told in the first person, Harry continuing to be capable of telling the story until the end of the last book seems a given.

I would also give Mouse, Molly, Thomas, and Murphy "get out of death free" cards valid until the middle of the second-to-last book.

Anyone else on the 'good guy' side... generally one per book. Picking up in significance as we approach the end of the series. But no "red wedding" where half your favorite characters die, until the final trilogy. And even then, I'd expect t1/t2 deaths to be one or two at a time, maybe with a bunch of near-mooks thrown in as well. (i.e. maybe the Merlin dies, along with half a dozen named wizards... but no other members of the Senior Council, or the wardens Dresden works with closely.)

I hope so. Seriously, every book or three we seem to gain a character or three. We've got a loaded boat. It's time to lighten the load.

And besides, when fighting monsters, beasties and forces of the magnitude they're fighting, sooner or later they're gonna lose some people. And not just minor side characters like the random Alphas that've dropped over the course of the series.

Reddit's Home for the Dresden Files book series by Jim Butcher.
Feel free to discuss the books, television series, comic books, RPG, and other works by Jim Butcher (such as Codex Alera and Cinder Spires, et al.).